Author Topic: Random freezes. where do I start?  (Read 4473 times)

Afkpuz

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Random freezes. where do I start?
« on: May 21, 2008, 11:48:30 pm »
My linuxmce core/hybrid keeps freezing after about a days use.  I haven't seen any pattern yet as to why or when it freezes, just that it happens after computer has been on for a while.  I don't think it's temperature and I'm pretty sure all my hardware is compatible.  I was under the impression that linuxmce was designed always be on.  How do I begin to find out what the problem is?  Where are the log files that might help me?

Thanks

royw

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2008, 12:01:07 am »
Temperatures are the usual culprit.  You might want to get some warm fuzzies by installing lm_sensors and picking up or borrowing a temperature probe (I use my wife's kitchen IR probe and a cheap Radio Shack multimeter).  Verify good air flow.  I ended up reversing the blow hole fan in my case to input air over the CPU/video card to solve my problem.  The logs are in /var/log and there are a lot of them.  I spent a couple of days trying to find something useful in them about the lock up without success...

HTH,
Roy

golgoj4

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2008, 06:51:32 pm »
I have  this same problem and its beginning to border on aggravating. This seems to happen for NO reason and nobody knows why.  I know other people have put forth the same issue, so the question is how to diagnose what the problem is.

In my case, xorg shoots up to 100% usage, and stays there until a reboot. I went through the dcerouter log but there wasnt much there. Suggestions on how to fix this instead of buying another media director?

I had to reboot twice in the space of an hour. this is not good.
Linuxmce - Where everyone is never wrong, but we are always behind xbmc in the media / ui department.

Afkpuz

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2008, 03:13:52 am »
I'm not sure, but I think it is a hardware problem.  For example, I haven't verified this, but I think I get less freezing when I unplug my usb keyboard and mouse.  I've also noticed that one of my PCI cards tends to get unseated and this causes freezing, but I still haven't found a pattern.

totallymaxed

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2008, 07:17:43 am »
I'm not sure, but I think it is a hardware problem.  For example, I haven't verified this, but I think I get less freezing when I unplug my usb keyboard and mouse.  I've also noticed that one of my PCI cards tends to get unseated and this causes freezing, but I still haven't found a pattern.

Hi,

Unseated or 'loose' PCI cards will definitely cause these kinds of problems... so its worth fixing that issue for sure. Secondly it maybe that your processor heatsink is not seated properly (or does not have enough paste between it and the heatsink)... we've seen that a few times which would go to the theory of 'over heating'.

Hope this helps you!

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Afkpuz

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2008, 10:56:00 pm »
Is there anykind of utility for linuxmce or kubuntu that could log my cpu temperature so that when it does lock up, I could check the temp log?

gazlang

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2008, 11:55:21 am »
A few users have had this problem with the asus M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard and solved it with a BIOS update. Check the forum posts on freezes
AMD Athlon 5800+ X2
Asus M2N-SLI-Deluxe
2x Corsair XMS6400 DDR2 512mb
Samsung 400GB SATA + 500GB SATA
nVidia GeForce 7300GT
Hauppauge Nova-T 500
Hauppauge PVR-500
Thermaltake low-noise 450w PSU
Thermaltake Bach Case w/ imon vfd
Fiire Remote
UIRT

Afkpuz

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Re: Random freezes. where do I start?
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2008, 04:43:23 pm »
Well, doesn't matter now as I've left linuxmce for mythtv.  I made another post with my reasons for leaving and I will check back with each new release.  But I did find a program in the repos called "computertemp" which runs in the gnome panel.  I'll be monitoring my temperature in ubuntu to see if I still get lockups.  So far, so good.